The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA} offers the following safety tips for college fire safety:

Be Prepared for a Fire

Look for fully sprinklered housing when choosing a dorm or off-campus housing.

Make sure your dormitory or apartment has smoke alarms inside each bedroom, outside every sleeping area and on each level. For the best protection, all smoke alarms should be interconnected so that when one sounds they all sound.

For people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, make sure there are smoke alarms that use strobe lights to wake the person. Install vibration equipment (pillow or bed shake) that is activated by the smoke alarm.

Test all smoke alarms at least monthly.

Never remove batteries or disable the alarm.

Learn your building’s evacuation plan and practice all drills as if they were the real thing.

Involve students with disabilities in evacuation planning and the plan.

Escape Tips

If you live off campus, have a fire escape plan with two ways out of every room.

Windows with security bars, grills, and window guards should have emergency release devices.

When the smoke alarm or fire alarm sounds, get out of the building quickly and stay out.

Smoke is toxic. If you must escape through smoke, get low and go under the smoke to your way out.

If you can’t get out, close the door and seal vents and cracks around doors with towels or tape to keep smoke out. Call 9-1-1 or the fire department. Tell them where you are and signal for help at the window with a light-colored cloth or a flashlight.

Smoking

To prevent a deadly cigarette fire, you must be alert. You won’t be alert if you are sleepy, have taken medicine or drugs, or consumed alcohol that makes you drowsy.

If you smoke, smoke outside or in an area designated by your college dormitory.

Never smoke in bed.

Wherever you smoke, use deep, sturdy ashtrays.

Before going to bed, check under furniture cushions and other places people smoke for cigarette butts that may have fallen out of sight.

Cooking

Cook only where it is permitted.

Stay in the kitchen when cooking.

Cook only when you are alert, not sleepy or drowsy from medicine or alcohol.

Check with your local fire department for any restrictions before using a barbeque grill, fire pit, or chiminea.

Keep the stovetop, burners, and oven clean.

Plug microwave ovens or other cooking appliances directly into an outlet. Never use an extension cord for a cooking appliance as it can overload the circuit and cause a fire.